Prewave Scores $20M as Supply Chain Tech Investments Stay on VC Radars

Despite the investor caution narrative that permeates the world of startups throughout the economic downturn, certain types of startup they have been a bit more impervious to market conditions. The global supply chain was one of the large industrial accidents of the pandemic, so perhaps it goes without saying that companies tackling issues related to the global supply chain still an attractive proposition for venture capitalists who would otherwise be hesitant.

In the last few months alone, we have seen Germany-based IntegrityNext swallow $109 million to help companies audit their supply chains for ESG (environmental, social and governance) compliance; Texas Based Review raise $73 million for a supply chain security platform; San Marcos-based Everstream secures $50 million provide predictive information to supply chains; Sesame from France get $37 million to provide companies with ESG information about their supply chain; and Pando from India raise $30 million to grow your cargo management platform.

today is PrewaveIt’s time to prove that the global supply chain remains one of the best tickets for raising venture capital funds. The Austrian startup revealed that it has raised 18 million euros ($20 million) in what it calls a Series A+ funding round, following its €11 million ($12.3 million) Series A round eight months ago.

For its latest cash injection, Prewave has also attracted European VC Heavyweight Creandumwhich previously endorsed companies like Spotify, Klarna and iZettle.

Risk factor’s

Founded in Vienna in 2017 by Harald Nitschinger and Lisa Smith, Prewave markets itself as a holistic supply chain risk platform that spans “all phases of the risk lifecycle,” through identification, analysis, mitigation and reporting of these risks.

For example, companies like BMW, Lufthansa, and PwC use Prewave to monitor every entity in their supply chain through channels like social media, news reports, and other data sources to understand not just what’s going on inside the companies in their supply chain, but also externalities such as earthquakes, floods, political unrest, lawsuits or worker strikes, anything that could affect the global transfer of goods.

The company says it has developed its own “crawler” that finds publicly available information in dozens of languages.

“Having our own tracker instead of solely relying on third-party supply chain data providers allows us to continually expand and improve our coverage,” Smith explained to TechCrunch via email. “We also connect to various social media platforms and for specific types of events we use external data sources such as USGS (United States Geological Survey) for earthquake data or GDACS (Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System) for weather information. Combining all these data points ensures broad coverage of both local and global supply chain risk events.”

Prewave then analyzes all the data and delivers a dynamic vendor risk score that changes based on all the new data it ingests.

Supply (chain) and demand

There are a number of reasons why the demand for supply chain insights is skyrocketing, beyond simply improving your bottom line by avoiding disruption. These include legal obligations, for example Germany recently passed a new supply chain due diligence law that makes it the responsibility of big business to track human rights violations and environmental risks throughout their supply chain. TO a similar directive is currently being proposed also for the European Union (EU) in general.

And then there’s the simple fact that consumers increasingly expect the companies they do business with to have at least some moral and ethical principles, and not be solely beholden to shareholder sentiment.

“Supply chain technology has weathered the economic headwind in recent years because it has become increasingly vital for companies to optimize their operations, adapt to external risks, and reduce costs within their supply chain” Nitschinger told TechCrunch via email. “The pandemic, for example, exposed critical vulnerabilities in global supply chains, making it clear that companies must invest in technologies that improve visibility and sustainability, predict potential disruptions, and enable more agile and responsive strategies. As businesses continue to face economic challenges, the importance of supply chain risk management technology is expected to grow.”

With another $20 million in the bank, Prewave plans to double recent growth that has seen its workforce grow from 20 employees early last year to more than 100 today, which, according to Nitschinger, “reflects the substantial increase in income”. has seen during the same period.

In addition to lead backer Creandum, Prewave’s latest investment included contributions from Ventech, Kompas, Seed+Speed, Segnalita, Speedinvest, Working Capital Fund, and Xista Science Ventures.